Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Where have the deer gone ?

Good little read.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1FG4ocuKTY/

Did CNC approve that propaganda?

He got trumped.

You called it……that’s basically what it is……It’s the easy “go to”……… as if this is the first season we’ve ever had acorns on the ground……I’ll give you a good example of how this propaganda works on the general public…..

I’ve been going down to Enon and pretty much every surrounding property since I started tracking 12 years ago…..Otis actually got to train as a puppy at Enon so that’s how long its been……The greenfields around there have ALWAYS looked like putting greens every year since the beginning and I would imagine for a long time prior to me seeing it……Last year dang near every food plot around that area was a foot deep……Hunters from multiple properties were reporting sightings being way down……I was on a property one day and this one guys says the line being fed above…..”Ah, its just acorns!”…….

Naw sir…….that’s more than just acorns. That’s a thinned down population from the 50% spike in countywide doe harvest the year before…..Do acorns play a role??....Absolutely, especially in areas that are dominated by hardwoods……….But so do decreases in deer population from increased doe harvest

CNC, I’m betting that Habitat 1st isn’t taking sponsorship money from Alfa

Probably not…..but I bet someone from Alfa will gladly use it to support the cause…….

Explain the property I’ve been hunting we were seen a dozen deer per field the first couple weeks of season. Plus multiple woods sightings at the same time. One afternoon over 40 deer total. Fast forward to now. Now we are seeing 0. There’s have been 2 deer killed in about 5000 acres. Multiple hunters multiple different approaches. I guess all those deer died somewhere off that 5000

It's not just you. Running 9 cell cams, we were getting probably 500 or more pics/day last week, across several different properties we have, and we had been for months. Does, fawns, young bucks and a bunch of mature bucks. Since last Friday, actually Thursday night, the activity has steadily decreased. The mature bucks disappeared completely starting Friday night. Doe activity Friday night was about half what it had been. Activity has continued to steadily decrease since the weekend. Since midnight last night we've had a grand total of 10 pics taken, where it would have been 250+ just last week. No pressure on the properties, no real pressure around them. Cams are running on fields, feeders, and white oak flats in the woods (with feed in there too). White Oaks, as well as every other acorn tree known to man, are still dropping steady. Only thing I can figure is the hard freeze last week and now the instant warmup back to summer weather, has thrown them into a funk. Everyone I talk to in the southwest central part of the state is seeing pretty much the same scenario. Dont fret. It's just deer, doing deer things. If activity doesnt pick back up, this will be the first opening weekend of gun season that I have missed in probably 35 yrs. I'm just not going to go sit in almost 80 degree weather and fight mosquitos just to see a couple does and fawns. Dont know why they completely shut off, but I'm sure they'll be back to moving soon. At least in my case, I know they didnt go anywhere, they are still there, just not moving.

Not at all and they seem to be pretty dang smart. But.. I think their view might be somewhat skewed because they are now majority spending time on managed properties. The status of our deer population can be drastically different when you get away from some of these heavily managed areas.

Gotta be all those folks shooting the does. 😉🤔🤣😎

FYI, I have 40 acres of mature hardwoods in one spot that is loaded with scrapes and rubs. It literally looked like you could sit down anywhere on the ground and kill a deer. Think that’s what we’ll do this weekend. Just have fun.

I agree abolt. I’d just love to see cnc explain to me how the deer that were there aren’t anymore because even though nobody has shot them they’ve been overharvested in 14 days One of the properties included is highly managed low pressure and has been for 20 years.

Deer being deer. I’ve got a double butt load on my place. Big ones, little ones and all in between. HOWEVER, they aren’t moving much right now.

We were deer heavy on cams before acorns dropped. Them deer light the last 2 weeks. They have picked back up. I think there are so many acorns in the woods some slipped down and hurt their back so they been out awhile. Laid up. And some got knocked out by swamp oak acorns dropping. They are just now recovering.

Acorns and just a pattern they hit this time of year. I live on a no pressure place and u go from seeing 20 at one time and feeding 50 ft away and not pay u a bit of attention to now only have a couple after dark and they won’t get no where near that close. I figure they getting ready to start splitting up does and bucks. The next really cold snap we get u better get in the woods mainly where that thanksgiving to Christmas rut happens. With bucks wanting to breed they all get weird and patterns change. It happens this way every year.

Our feeders have petered off but we are also seeing new bucks developing patterns in places that they haven’t been seen previously. Acorns are raining right now. Been hunting tight to the SMZs this week with some luck. It’s hot, but the deer are still moving.

That would seem to be a reasonable assumption, but it’s not accurate. I spend a lot more time on small properties and talking to small landowners. The larger clients with manageable land and the smaller clients without are all saying the exact same thing. I have had deer on camera all summer, and early fall, and now they’re hard to get on camera or hard to see while hunting. It’s acorns and warm temps.

The lower you decrease the deer population relative to the amount of food available the less competition you have for resources……which equates to less deer moving around in search of food…… When a county that typically checks in around 2000 does per season checks in 2900…….those extra 900 does that got killed matters ……A collective increase in doe harvest that big county wide has the potential to impact a lot of properties…..even ones that didn’t participate with the increased killing…… Even big plantation numbers arent going to stay as concentrated when hunters on every small parcel around them have a feeder set up shooting an extra 900+ does……

But this (paired with sex ratio management) is my exact management philosophy. Where’s the problem?

Exactly. It’s where I try to get the larger client properties over time. I think the general populace has a misunderstanding of what acceptable deer numbers are relative to habitat condition based on the fact that a lot of hunters today experienced the population booms in the 70s-early 2000s and expect that to be normal. It’s not normal. Deer expanded into areas they hadn’t occupied in many years, and reproduced quickly due to protection of females. It’s a different ballgame now that deer are in every square inch of every county.